1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to panoramic imaging, and more particularly, to a photographing device and method for capturing an image fit to form a panoramic image by detecting a change of an azimuth by use of a geomagnetic sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
With growth of communication technology, various wireless mobile communication devices such as mobile phones, notebooks, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) have been developed and released into the market. Especially for mobile phones, which have the highest penetration rate, diverse functions such as a photographing function and a video recording function are additionally provided as compared with the functions of initial models. However, because the photographing function of the mobile phone is only a more recently added function, its resolution and performance are inferior to that of dedicated photographing devices such as digital cameras or digital camcorders. For example, the mobile phones without a zoom function have a limited focusing range. Thus, even when a user wants to take a picture of scenic images such as mountains, seas, and valleys, it is hard to capture the whole view.
To address the above disadvantages, a method disclosed in Korean Patent No. 2001-42265 captures a plurality of images and combines the captured image to make a panoramic image. In the above Korean Patent, the plurality of images is captured by measuring a relative azimuth and position by use of an acceleration sensor and a gyro sensor. However, the acceleration sensor requires relatively large power consumption and is vulnerable to shocks. The gyro sensor is also vulnerable to shocks and is high-priced. In addition, it is not easy to miniaturize these sensors to be built in small-sized electronic devices such as mobile phones.
As for the usage of the gyro sensor, acceleration is measured and integrated to obtain the velocity. Next, a double integration is applied to acquire displacement information of a camera. In this case, an integral constant generated during the integration may cause error. Even if the user stops the rotation over a certain angle, the continuous rotation may be recognized due to the integral constant. To combine a plurality of images to a panoramic image, accurate control of the photographing angle is demanded. As a result, in the related art, it is difficult to attain the panoramic image.